Home // International Journal On Advances in Telecommunications, volume 8, numbers 3 and 4, 2015 // View article
Authors:
Peter Dorfinger
Ferdinand von Tüllenburg
Georg Panholzer
Thomas Pfeiffenberger
Keywords: Emergency network; 802.11 communication; interoperability; information interchange; disaster relief.
Abstract:
Information and communication technology becomes more and more important for large scale disaster work as it allows for sharing information between stakeholders in short times. However, the interchange of disaster related information is often affected by missing communication coverage and outages of pre-existing infrastructure. Further problems arise, if multiple organizations from different countries shall share all their disaster related information. Until now, there is no ICT-System available for disaster relief work, which provides an integrated solution of communication technology and information sharing and visualization applications helping for creating a common understanding across national and organizational borders of what is happening in the disaster operation. In this paper a flexible infrastructure for information interchange of disaster related information is presented. The first main building block of this infrastructure is the disaster information system consisting of various IT systems and software applications used to produce, share and manage disaster data. The second building block is a mobile, and easy to handle 802.11 driven communication hardware and software system. This system is capable to bring communication coverage to almost every arbitrary location within a disaster area by setting up a meshed wireless network. The wireless network is used to connect end devices used by field personnel to the disaster information system. The communication system can be operated independently of any pre-existing infrastructure such as Internet access or power supply. Several training events showed the usability of the proposed solution and the advantages of a comprehensive ICT system in international disaster work.
Pages: 189 to 201
Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2015. Used with permission.
Publication date: December 30, 2015
Published in: journal
ISSN: 1942-2601